Clean-out fitting for drain-pipes, traps, &amp;c.



v F. TUDOR. CLEAN-OUT FITTING FOB DRAIN PIPES, TRAPS, 81.0.

Patented 00L 3, I899.

(Application filed July 2, 1898.)

(No Mode l.)

64 4 (7'. J/w-N/ am: FEYEM ca. Pnomuma, w smnmoN. a c.

NITED STATES PATENT Trice.

FREDERIO TUDOR, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLEAN-OUT FITTING FOR DRAIN-PIPES, TRAPS, 840.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 634,850, dated October 3, 1899.

Application filed July 2, 1898. Serial No. 685,025. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, FREDERIC TUDOR, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clean-Out Fittings for Drain-Pipes, Traps, &c., of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention and improvements hereinbelow described is the provision of clean-out fittings for drain-pipes, traps, &c., which shall invariably be tight when in use, be readily accessible and removable, and which shall eliminate all danger due to inefiicient workmanship. When clean-out fittings as heretofore constructed are first put in place, their security is usually tested by means of apressure test and the result of defective workmanship corrected in case any fitting betrays a leak. The commonest danger to be apprehended from such contrivances lies in the liability of gaskets and packing to wear out or decay and in imperfect workmanship in repairing and resetting the cleanouts, after which, as a rule, no thorough pressure test is applied, the requirements of local boards of health being usually satisfied by a single test made after the first installation of plumbing. The pressure test is readily applied on new Work, but the difficulties and cost of athorough pressure test prevent its general and repeated use. If the clean-outs as heretofore provided are made tight in the first place, there is no reliable assurance that they will remain so. They are oftenpacked with leather or paper gaskets. The former shrink and the latter decay or break. The cleanouts are the only points of the whole system which are opened to clean out obstructions and accumulations of grease, 850., and when they are replaced it is usually impossible to be sure that the joint is permanently tight, as it is most important that it should be. To remove this great danger to health and to provide clean-out fittings which may be readily accessible and at the same time be rendered perfectly and permanently tight, the invention and improvements herein described will be found adequate and effioient.

In the drawings, wherein like letters are uniformly used to designate like parts, Figure l is a longitudinal elevation, partly in section, of a clean-out on a straight length of pipe. Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 with certain portions hereinafter specified omitted. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4a longitudinal section of the clean-out applied to a bend or elbow.

The pipe joint or section A may constitute a portion of the soil-pipe or a part of theconnection of a trap. This pipe-fitting is provided with a lateral opening, of which the edge e is properly shaped to constitute a seat for the cover E.

I use the term seat in a general sense. It may be a bevel-edged surface, as in Figs. 1 and 3, or a screw-thread, as in Fig. 4.

Upon the pipe-fitting A, preferably cast as an integral portion thereof, is a wall B, which surrounds the seat e of the cover E (which is proportioned and shaped so as to fit the seat e closely, as in Fig. 1, or when a circular cap or cover is employed is screwed into a corresponding circular seat, as in Fig. 4) and is provided with a projection D, which is of service when the cover E is to be removed or put in place. The walLB forms a receptacle around and over the cover-seat e. In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 3,inclusive, the cover is held in place by'yokes G and plates F, through which the ends of the yoke pass and which may be drawn tightly into place by means of nuts g, which screw on over the ends of the yoke G. In'Fig. 2 these yokes are not shown. In the form shown in Fig. 4 this mode of securement is discarded and a screw-thread at e supplied instead. The projection D in this case may be squared, so as to form a convenient hold' for a key with which the cover may be tightly screwed in place. WVhen the cover is in place, the workman fills the receptacle formed by the retaining-wall B with a plastic cement which hardens after a short interval. Plaster-of-paris is a cement which may be readily prepared and applied.

A gasket on the seat e may be used, but the cement renders this unnecessary in most cases.

In order to economize in cement used, the receptacle within the retaining-wall B may be contracted by forming the cover E with the flange O at or near the outer edge of the cover. A rim of cement will thus be formed between the wall B and flange 0.

111 Fig. i I have shown the cement II on one side filling the entire receptaclebetween the retaining-wall I3 and the projection D and on the other side at 71. confined to the contracted space between the retaining wall B and flange C.

For further security the retaining-wall B may be formed with an inwardly-projecti ng lip I). This lip constitutes a choking-flange which effectually resists any ordinary effort to remove or displace the cover E when the plaster or cement has hardened. Any obstruction may be employed to perform this function, the idea being to offer an effective obstacle to the removal of the cement, which thus forms a key or plug. as well as a seal.

When it is desired to remove the cover, the cement II can be readily broken out and the cover-lifted from its seat. When the cover is replaced and the plaster or cement is mixed and the receptacle therefor filled, there can be no fear of a leak from the joint c. Only the most ordinary skill is required to mix and apply the cement, so that the danger heretofore to be apprehended from unskilful workmanship is removed. I have contrived the cover E so that it offers no obstruction and forms no inner receptacle whereby the drain or trap may be clogged. Ordinarily the cleanouts on the side of drain-pipes are attached to a chamber on the side of the pipe, sometimes in the form of a T and sometimes rectangularor box shaped. Such chambers form lateral receptacles in which any slight substance is liable to lodge and by its lodgment form an obstruction to impede the passage of other matter or detain it, thus increasing the stricture within the pipe.

The cover E is constructed with its inner face shaped to conform to the general shape of the pipe-fitting to which it is applied.

If the pipe is cylindrical, as in Fig. l, the cover E is convex on the under side, with a cylindrical surface of the same radius as the inner radius of the pipe. If the pipe-fitting to which the cover is applied is of: another shape-say a quarter-turn, as in Fig. -ithe inner surface of the cover is shaped so that when the cover is in place the pipe-fitting and cover form a substantially smooth and unbroken inner surface.

In Fig. t the cover E has its inner surface shaped to coincide with a torus having radii of curvature the same as those of the pipefitting itself.

In a fitting such as shown in Fig. 4 marks or notches on the outside of the pipe-casing and cover should be provided, so that when these coincide or assume a predetermined relationshi i) or position the workman may know that the inner surface of the pipe and cover are also coincident. Vith clean-out covers provided with the cement seal herein described the apertures maybe placed on the under side of a pipe or trap with the same security as when they are placed on the top.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to sceu re by Letters Patent, is

1. In a clean-out fitting,'a cover, its seat, a receptacle over the seat-joint, and a filling of cement in the said receptacle, substantially as described.

2. A pipe-fitting provided with a clean-out aperture, a retaining-wall around the aperture, a cover fitting said aperture and a filling of cement within the retaining-wall and covering the seat joint, substantially as described.

A pipe-fitting provided with a clean-out aperture, a retaining-wall surrounding said aperture, a cover fitting the aperture, a filling of cement within the retaining-wall and covering the seat-joint, the said retaining-wall provided on the inside with a choking-flange, whereby the cement is secured against dislodgment, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 30th day of June, 1898.

FREDERIC TUDOR.

\Vitnesses:

E. 1 GROLL, O. S. G. SwANsoN. 

